The Breed
by KosmoKhaos
Summary: Four years after Cassa and the Kowloon attack on the special zone, another threat comes to power with the rise of a new breed of vampire. What does this mean for the other Black Bloods? An "Old Blood" and her two guards may know the answer.
1. Trouble

WELL! What can I say? When I get obsessed with certain shows, I write and draw them! ^_^ And currently, I'm obsessed with the Black Blood Brothers series! I mean C'MON! It only had, what?, TWELVE episodes?! WTF?! So now, I am inclined to write my OWN continuation of it. (With some OCs of course...) This fic will mainly revolve around some of my favorite less credited characters of the series. Those people would be Cain Warlock, Sei, Zelman and whomever else I feel the need to write about as I go along. Yes, I am kinda making this up as I go... . ANYWAY! If you have any questions, feel free to ask them! ^_^ The best way to do that might be to review seeing as I nearly NEVER check my e-mail. Enjoy!

Four years after Cassa and the Kowloon attack on the special zone, another threat comes to power with the rise of a new breed of vampire. What does this mean for the other Black Bloods? An "Old Blood" and her two guards may know the answer.

**Trouble**

The petrified man stumbled over various debris as he raced down the empty, dark street. His eyes wide with terror, the only thing running through his mind was "RUN! ESCAPE!". Looking over, he saw an alley. He made a sharp left into the narrow backway, stumbling in clumsy fright over garbage-cans and their contents.

'I have to get out of here! She'll find me!!' He thought as he desperately looked around.

There was a fence in front of him, blocking his way out. He could jump it but...

'Damn! Why'd it have to be silver?!' He thought as he quickly scanned. Frantically. 'There's no way out!!'

He heard a soft shuffling noise behind him and took of toward the fence.

"I'll be damned if I let her catch me now! Silver or no silver, I'm going!" He muttered.

He got to steps and as he went to jump up the five story fence, he caught his foot, carelessly on an old blanket and tripped. Swearing, he made to brace himself and push himself back into a standing position. The sudden chill of a shadow falling over him made him freeze.

"Sloppy, sloppy, just how far did you think you'd get makin' all that damn noise?" Taunted the female voice behind him.

He turned to look up, the dark-haired young man cowered back and away from the bored, mocking female before him. Behind her dark silhouette the full moon shined brightly. Almost as brightly as the green-grey eyes glaring down at him.

"Please! Spare me!" He cried.

The woman's pale pink lips turned down in distaste. She was scowling at him. Her fangs gleamed like silver in the filter of moonlight.

"Shut your mouth! Filthy cockroaches like you are the reasons why we have such INFESTATIONS in the world in the first place! So, please, spare me your cries for mercy." She growled.

The dark-haired man gulped but pushed back enough fear to smirk nastily at her, fangs bared.

"Is that so? Well, even if you kill me, it won't do ANY good! There are more of us than you can even IMAGINE! Once we infiltrate, it'll be all over for you, the other old bloods and your Lady Bai Hu-ACK!"

Her hand was around his neck before he could finish his sentence. Lifting him easily, she tossed him just as swiftly into the side of the large dumpster to her left, successfully denting it beyond use and trapped him between the metal that had capsized around him. Before he could even cry out in pain, her boot was slammed firmly into his chest, echoing off the walls of the alley with a loud, resounding, metallic boom.

He spewed up blood and spittle, leaning forward limply, trying to breathe. Her foot was what kept him in place. Deathly calm, contrast, to her savage actions she spoke to him.

"…I'll see to it that you NEVER speak the Lady's name from your filthy mouth again."

She applied more pressure to his ribcage and the loud crunch it made was followed by his shriek of pain.

"You're not worthy of looking upon someone like her… "She said softly.

He laughed and coughed up blood gorily. Breathing raggedly in pain he glared up at her with a smirk.

"It doesn't matter…whether I see her or not…no one will survive…They're..already infiltrating as we speak…it's..too late.." He wheezed.

The woman paused.

"So…this was all a diversion." She stated to herself softly before her lips curled back in a snarl. "AAHH!! DAMN YOU FILTHY SWINE!!"

Abruptly bringing her foot back, she brought forward with a furious growl and a resounding, loud, gory, wet crack as the powerful kick broke through his ribcage and smashed his heart and lungs. His body tore through the garbage can at the force and he pinned inside.

The woman bit angrily at her lip, piercing it with the sharp tip of her fangs. The dark red liquid dripped to her dark shirt and dribbled to her pants as the man in the dumpster's body dissipated into a fine grey ash and spilled across her boot. She shook it off and sucked at her lip, seemingly more calm but her beautiful face was set hard in a dark scowl and her eyes caught the moon's light and flashed ferociously.

A soft shuffling of cloth was heard behind her and she twitched.

"So, they have evaded us and are infiltrating…" Came the soft, lilting voice behind her.

She turned and bowed low on one knee before the small newcomer, ignoring the other young girl next to her. The girl was young, maybe no older than thirteen, with dark black hair that went to her waist and straight, clean-cut bangs and end ends. She was tanned, rather dark skinned, a light sun-kissed brown complexion and haunting calm, odd, golden eyes. She wore a simple Chinese style red dress with fades of orange and red flowers on them. The symbol for "Tiger" and "Longevity" were stitched on the front.

"I'm sorry Lady Bai Hu, I let them escape me-"

"Do not apologize Ariya, You did all you could which simply means that this was fate." The small girl interrupted.

Ariya stood silently as the other newcomer, who was silent until now, sighed. Stepping forward into the moonlight, they stared off into the distance, beyond the town before them.

"I just knew this was gonna' get ugly…Didn't I say we should've just killed that bastard when we saw him at the store earlier, Ari?" She said.

Ariya glared down at the girl. She was young, maybe fifteen or so, with light brown hair in two buns covered with red bun-caps on either side of her head and a pale, creamy complexion with a cute, heart shaped face and mischievous brown eyes. She wore a predominately Chinese ensemble, a kimono-like red and yellow top that left her back exposed, one yellow and one brown leather sash, various wrist and arm bands and a pair of royal blue pants with yellow designs and brown leather boots.

"Shut up Yue! The first thing you would've done was get us noticed by some humans with your wild, stupid antics!" Ariya snapped.

Yue pouted. "I still say it was a good idea.."

"It doesn't matter anymore." Bai Hu countered softly. "If they have infiltrated then that could mean trouble for those that we consider our…"Allies"…therefore must do everything in our power to help and warn them of the coming events that may or may not occur."

Yue's eyes glittered with excitement. "Does that mean…?"

"Yes Yue, We are going to the Special Zone." Bai Hu confirmed.

A large cheshire grin broke out on the girl's face, fangs and all.

"ALRIGHT! Let's go and kick some ASS!" She cheered.

Ariya ignored her in favor of talking to Bai Hu. "My Lady, I can't help but feel that we're bringing trouble to them. They just got over the Kowloon attack by the "Black Snake" not too long ago…They had trouble covering that up and something like this…" She trailed off with a frown.

Bai Hu closed her eyes and was silent for a moment. An ominous breeze swept the three females' hair.

"Trouble always seems to have a way to bring people together…or tear them apart." Was her simple answer.

Yue smiled in childish excitement of the battle to come. "There's no rest for the wicked, I always say!"

"Ariya allowed herself to smirk. " Now THAT, I can agree upon…"

******

That same night in the "Old Yard" of the Special Zone:

The two old bloods standing on the porch looking over the garden of the traditional Japanese style mansion looked silently up at the full moon. One of them, a young looking boy, had that peculiar, unsettling look about his face that told the older looking old blood beside him that something was wrong. But then again, he could sense something was wrong too.

'The Lord Dragon has been acting this way since nightfall…' He thought.

He turned his gaze to the legendary old blood beside him. Over the last few years, Sei's new form had grown quite a bit. He now almost came up to his mid-upper arm in height and he had matured into an older looking, fourteen year old boy. But one shouldn't be fooled by his appearance, The Lord Dragon was much older than he seemed. Sei had seen more of life than he had himself. Turning back to the moon he let out a gasp.

"The moon is turning red!" He said in disbelief.

Sei nodded seriously. "I know you can sense it too, Cain…Blood has been spilt this night and it seems there will be more to come."

Cain grit his teeth in annoyance. 'Great! Just when things were finally settling down!' He thought sarcastically. 'I knew the moment the hair on the back of my neck started to raise that SOMETHING was going to happen!'

"This isn't good." He said simply.

"No…it is not." Sei said with a thoughtful tilt of his head. "But if I am sensing what I think I am then we might not be in as much trouble as I feared." He said and with that, he turned to go back into the house, leaving Cain confused for a moment.

Sei paused and smiled back at him softly. "Come Cain, don't worry yourself. We will deal with the trouble once it comes, its best not to go looking for it, whether let IT come to US." He said.

Cain blinked twice before letting out a stressful sigh and an irritated growl as he seemed to do more often now since the wolf in him had been awaken after such a long hiatus. But then again, with his bloodline, he was born half werewolf but was more devoted to his black blood side.

"As you say Lord Dragon." He sighed as he walked after him.

He couldn't help a second glance at the full moon and shuddered. 'I hope this doesn't involve the Black Snake again…If it does, with Gintou here…it could become another Hong Kong Crusade. I doubt it'll end up like it did the last time she broke into the special zone. Gintou better do his damn job! '

******

YAY!!! Review please! Feedback would be nice! ^_^ This was kinda of a first chapter epilogue kind of thing so ya…I'll make the next chapter longer…. By the way, I drew a pic of my main characters! ^_^ I colored it but I usually get lazy with big pics so if it looks kinda' sloppy ignore it…And Ariya's outfit is the one she will be wearing in the next chapter seeing as she got blood on this one and she felt the need to change her appearance a bit for a certain occasion that will come up. Go to my profile page for the link for my picture on my photobucket! ^_^


	2. Touchdown: Welcome to the Special Zone!

Yay! I decided to add another chapter while I the ideas are popping up into my head before I update my other story. ^_^ I drew picture of Bai Hu that'll I'll be uploading onto photobucket. I'll put the uncolored pic up first then the colored version once I get around to coloring it. Anyway, Enjoy! (Note: The name suffixes that MAY BE unfamiliar to most anime fans i.e. "Bozu", which generally means kid or squirt. But it's usually directed at young boys. Then there's "Donno", which is a suffix higher ranking than "Sama" It means Master, Lord/Lady or someone with that ranking.

**Touchdown: Welcome to the Special Zone!**

6:45 pm on the bridge just outside of the special zone:

Yue stood no more than twelve inches from the barrier around the infamous Special Zone. She squinted and looked up slowly. Then down again.

"I don't see no damn barrier!" She grouched.

Reaching up to poke the "nonexistent" barrier, her wrist was abruptly caught by Ariya with an icy glare.

"Stop you idiot! YOU can't see it, but I CAN!...And it's there alright." She snapped as she glared up at the barrier with narrowed eyes.

Her eyes were much keener than the young black blood beside her. Beside her, Lady Bai Hu looked at the barrier impassively. The barrier's light reflected little rainbows in her golden gaze.

"I see he hasn't lost any of his strength in the least. The barrier is still as strong as ever. The only way Cassa could've gotten in was by invitation of a human." She stated calmly.

Ariya snorted. "Walkerman…" She spat.

Yue frowned at the name. 'So it's true then, if both Zaza AND Casa were in the special zone then it's only fair to say that HE was probably there with them…' She thought.

Absentmindedly biting at her bottom lip with her left fang, she quickly shoved the impending feelings of panic and fear into the back of her mind with a shake of her head.

"SO!...How do we get into the Special Zone Ariya-nesama?" She quipped.

Bai Hu looked over at her eldest guard.

"Can you do it Ariya?"

Ariya cocked her head to side as she assessed the sparkling barrier, invisible to the human or untrained eye.

"It shouldn't be a challenge…at least not for me. I'm not a Black Blood but I'm not completely human either so…" she trailed off into thought.

Yue's eyes grew wide. "YOU?! Ari-nesama are you sure that you can go through there?! I thought if a vampire tried to force them self through the barrier then!-…"

Ariya smiled down at her. "I thought you didn't believe in there was a barrier?" She laughed.

She placed a hand on the girl's wide forehead. It was something she did often seeing as the girl thought it was too big. Ariya briefly remembered when the girl used where bangs to try and hide it. Upon learning this, she told the girl that she thought she was beautiful and even if other people laughed, she thought she was a normal, beautiful girl, no matter what she was…

Yue pouted, face burning.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine Yue-chan." She laughed at the face the young girl was making.

Ariya stepped forward letting her hand linger assuringly on the girl's head before coming mere inches from the barrier. She sucked in a brief breathe before exhaling quickly and lifting a hand to push her hand through the force field, that had successfully repelled not only regular vampires but Kowloon children as well, for years. As her skin made contact with the barrier it tingled oddly and enveloped her hand. The sensation was odd. It was strangely calming. She stood there a moment, assessing the feeling in amusement.

Behind her, the tension her silence caused Yue was threatening to crush the girl with its weight.

"Well?! C-can you do it or what?!" She finally asked.

"Yeah, I can do it." Ariya stated simply, making Yue painfully curious.

"W…what's it feel like? Does it hurt?" She asked uncertainly.

Ariya shook her head. "No, it doesn't hurt. Its…well it actually kinda' tickles a bit." She answered, turning back to laugh before walking completely through the barrier.

Bai Hu seemed amused herself. "The barrier allowed you through…I wonder if Ryu-dono realizes that the barrier will yield to those with half the blood of a human." She mused.

Ariya smirked and turned to look back at them.

"Ready?"

"I am." Bai Hu said.

"…Yeah…I guess." Yue said unsurely.

Ariya laughed. "Don't get cold feet on me, Yu. I promise it won't hurt."

"I'm not afraid!" She growled indignantly. "I just don't wanna' get fried is all! And you'd better promise that it won't hurt! If it caused Bai Hu-dono pain, you'll have ta' answer ta' me!"

Ariya smiled, with a shake of her head. 'Heh, to serve and protect...' She thought and ignoring her comment, said: "Now shall we find out if this works? It's been some years since I've been in the Special Zone but I still have a residence here and consider this to be my current home. So…Welcome to the special zone, Bai Hu-sama and Shuang Yue-san."

This time, Yue's eyes widened as she saw the barrier appear before her and part to allow both vampires through. Bai Hu walked up to stand side by side with the apprehensive girl with a thoughtful look on her face.

"Do not worry Yue-chan, Come," She grabbed the girl's hand. "We shall go together."

Yue swallowed but nodded and they gave a tentative step forward. Bai Hu led the rest of the way through seeing as Yue opted to close her eyes. 'We better not fry! We better not fry!' She thought over and over. Through her fear, she hadn't even noticed that they had stopped. It was only until Bai Hu placed a cool hand upon her cheek that she noticed they had stopped walking. She opened her eyes and blinked as Bai Hu gave her, a small, rare smile.

"It's alright. We're through." She said with a gesture back to the now closed barrier.

Yue looked back and sure enough, they weren't out the barrier. They were now officially in the Special Zone. A big grin spread out on her face.

"Alright! We made it into the special zone! And we didn't even fry!" She cheered.

"HA! YOU shouldn't even be gloating seeing as you about to pee your pants before you even came through! So much for "The barrier doesn't exist!" Ariya laughed.

"Sh-shut up! I wasn't scared! I was only worried about Bai Hu- sama!"

"Whatever you say, Yue-bozu."

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!"

"What? You're a baka gaki. (Stupid brat)"

"I AM NOT!"

"Then you're a SCARED gaki!"

"SHUT UP!!"

Bai Hu sighed as she ignored their squabbling. They did it so often she barely noticed anymore. Instead, she turned her cool, golden gaze to the city before her. The Special Zone.

'This place has changed a lot since I was last here nine years ago.' Her eyes scanned the ocean that surrounded the outskirts of the city. 'The people here have grown…as well as the other "occupants" of this city. They maintain a certain balance between powers. But I can see that balance is starting fluctuate and churn unevenly. No doubt it is because of the return of "Gintou" and "The Sage." What house could rightfully accept them without tipping the already unstable balance of power and throwing the Special Zone into total chaos?'

Her eyes narrowed at the thought. 'Something like that could cause a war between the Black Bloods that reside in this city, pulling the humans in along with it. I wonder what they plan to do about him. No…more, what they will plan to do about the news our arrival will bring to them. The infiltration of this new "Breed" might start an imbalance before they can do anything about the Silver Blade.' She closed her eyes wearily. 'Forgive me for letting this happen…Sei.'

Without turning to the two females behind her she began the trek the rest of the way across the bridge into the Special Zone.

"Ariya, Yue, we're leaving. Let's go."

They're answer was immediate and in union.

"Yes, My Lady."

******

Yue smiled as she plopped down on the bed of the large motel room. She'd kicked off her boots and was currently wriggling the kinks out of her toes, causing the joints to pop.

"You sure owned a pretty convenient piece o' land, Ari-nesama! This old motel came in handy." She commented to the occupied young woman as she sat at a desk with a laptop.

"Yeah…" She simply said as she was currently too into what she was doing on the computer.

Now curious as what had the older girl's attention, Yue got up and walked over, leaning over and resting her chin on Ariya's shoulder to peer at the screen.

"What'cha doin'?" She asked with childish curiosity.

Ariya smirked. "Ohhh, a little…"information gathering" if you will. You see, Lady Bai Hu said that we would cause too much of a stir, too soon if we went looking for those "abominations". So we're going to wait for a bit before we take action." She explained. "If we can snuff out the threat before they get in too deep then we won't even have to alert the "higher ups". We can be in and out before they even notice…or at least that's how The Lady would like to see it go." She sighed.

Yue hummed thoughtfully as she looked at the site that Ariya was currently on. It seemed that she was on the official Special Zone job site. Checking out a …"Marine Bank"?

"Um, Ari, what exactly are you doing on a bank's website?" She asked.

The resulting fangy smirk that that question had produced made a bolt of excitement shoot down Yue's spine. When Ariya got smirks likes that it usually meant she was planning something "fun". Yue liked the idea of getting on the action seeing as she was stuck guarding Lady Bai Hu while Ariya went after the enemy.

"I'm "job-surfing." She said with a hint of that smooth, low undertone that she only got when she was planning something.

'Oh yeah,' Yue thought. 'She's up to something.'

"Lady Bai Hu suggested "blending in" with the population so that we could get as close as possible to "them" so that when they strike, we can take care of it swiftly." She murmured.

Yue raised an eyebrow. "So you're trying to get a job at the BANK? What's the catch?"

Ariya scrolled down on the screen and brought her hand up to point at a picture of…-

"Is that?!-"

"Cain Warlock?" Ariya finished with a smirk. "Yes it is."

"But I thought Bai Hu-sama wanted to do this quietly?!" Yue exclaimed.

"She does, and that's why I'll make sure he never even notices it's me. It won't take much but a simple trick to change my scent, hair. This job will get us just the information that we need to get this down properly."

"But-but-Do you even QUALIFY for the job?! You haven't lived here in a long while and-"

"That won't be a problem Yue-chan." Ariya interrupted. "Unlike most of the Black and Old Bloods, we have quite the extensive knowledge of modern technology and tradition. For us, it'll be easy."

Yue's eyes widened in realization. "You're gonna' hack their system!"

Ariya's smirk grew into a predatorial smile. "No, WE'RE going to hack their system."

Yue's grin was almost identical to Ariya's. "OH, HELL YEAH! LET'S DO THIS!"

Ariya gave a rather disturbing laugh at Yue's enthusiasm. The girl's past "occupation" made her a quite the computer expert. Just what they needed in times like these.

"Pull up a chair and let's get started. And hey, if this works out, maybe I'll find something "fun" for you to do." Ariya goaded.

Yue cracked her knuckles in excitement. 'Always count on Ne-sama to find the fun!'

******

Cain Warlock sighed as he sat at his desk. Even though the Lord Dragon had asked him not to worry, he couldn't help it. It was downright irritating! How was he supposed to think with the feeling of foreboding doom constantly creeping up his spine? He looked down at the papers on his desk. Papers he hadn't finished… He needed a new god damned secretary! It had been this way since the Kowloon attack four years ago when his last secretary died. But lately, these past months had seen tons of paperwork piled and unfinished on his desk.

He growled. The balance in the Special Zone was shifting from one house to the other and that was not good.

Glaring down at the recent papers on his desk his eyes stopped on a certain one stuck halfway out the pile. A résumé. A plucked it from the pile and scanned over it.

'Kazumi, Arisu. Age, 23… She was a secretary before at "Kiku inc." just outside of the special zone a few years back…'

Cain smirked. He knew that company very well actually. He and the CEO had negotiated quite a few loans in the past. 'Hmmm…' The girl's résumé was the most impressive he'd seen in a while…

"Well, well looks like I've solved one problem for now."

He stood and walked out of his office, paper in hand. He walked over to a receptionist and placed down in front of her.

"Tell this young woman that she has the job, I'll expect you to give her the details. I'm turning in for the night." He said to the flustered woman.

She pushed her rounded glasses up and watched as the tall Black Blood walked away.

"W-wait, Mr. Warlock! Doesn't she need an interview?!" She called, standing up, preparing to go after him.

Cain waved the question off. "There's no need. I don't have the time." He said then paused as he thought about it. "Have her report to me when she arrives."

"Y-You mean tomorrow?!" She exclaimed.

"Is that a problem?" He asked, almost daring her to say that it was by the glare he was giving her for asking so many questions.

"N-no sir."

"Good then." He said and with that, he left.

The woman sighed wearily, slumping down in her chair. He had been treating her like a receptionist recently and it caused her some really unneeded stress. She looked down at the résumé on her desk. He always got like this when he was in a bad mood, which was most the time, ironically. She sighed. She kind of felt bad for the girl. She'd have to put up with him directly. But on the other hand, she wouldn't have to be his scapegoat anymore and could actually do the work that she was HIRED to do. Running her fingers through her hair, she picked up the phone.

"Ah well, better get this over with. I hope she's not sleeping or something, it's nine fifty-three at night at night…"

******

Yue sat in the darkened room at the computer. She hacked into about every system in the Special Zone and was surfing around. She had to admit, some of their security was pretty weak. Although, she'd actually had a challenge trying to get into the Marine Bank's system.

'I guess Warlock doesn't take chances…still, it wasn't THAT hard ta' crack. It was actually fun.' She thought with a hushed giggle.

Behind her, Bai Hu was meditating on the bed. The dark skinned young girl raised an eyebrow when she giggled. It was the tenth time she'd done so and it made her curious.

"Yue, you seem excited."

Yue easily got the hidden meaning behind the question. In other words, she wanted to know what they were up to. Ariya had left to go find "dinner" but Bai could still tell that the woman was happy about something.

"Ariya got a job here in the Special Zone." She giggled, her eyes reflecting the computer's light like a mirror.

"A job?"

"Yeah, ya' know, ta' fit in and all." Yue explained happily.

"And what, pray tell, does this job include?"

"A secretary job at the Marine Bank….Under Cain Warlock."

Bai sighed. She should've known that Ariya just wouldn't be able to resist seeing him again. She just hoped that she wouldn't do anything foolish to provoke the Warlock and evoke his ever short temper. Lest it turn out as it did the last time.

Yue frowned when she heard the sigh. "Does that bother you Bai Hu-donno? Cause if it does-"

"No. It's fine. Just make sure she doesn't do anything that might attract attention before the time is right."

Yue brightened at the idea of getting to watch Ariya's back instead of vice versa.

"Sure thing!" She chirped.

Just then, the phone on the nightstand rung. The two girls paused. It rang a second time. Bai was closest to it but she simply blinked at it in amusement. Yue snickered at the look at within the blink of an eye, she was next to the phone and had picked it up mid-ring.

"Hello!" She said cheerily.

She and Bai maintained eye-contact throughout the conversation. Bai could hear the entire conversation and wore a look of amusement. It was a woman's voice.

"Arisu? Oh yeah, she not in right now, she went out to "grab a bite to eat." Yue said smirking at her innuendo. "Oh I'm her younger sister, Yume." She paused for a moment and then brightened. "Oh wow! She'll be so happy to hear that! I'll be sure to give her the message as soon as she gets in!...Huh? Tomorrow? Sure! She can come, I'll make sure of it! Okay, Bye!"

Yue hung up the phone a grinned at Bai from ear to ear.

"She got the job!"

******

Yay for chapter two! I think this is the longest chapter that I've ever typed before…hmm, I'll try to get more up like this one for both my stories. ^_^ Review Please! Oh and go to my page for the link for my other pic.


	3. Master of Disguise

I'm back with another chapter! XD YAY! I'll try to get that pic of Bai Hu colored soon…heh heh ^_^" Anyway YAY! More Black Blood Action in this chappy YAY! Enjoy!

**Master of Disguise**

Yue sat on the bed with Lady Bai Hu as both girls waited for Ariya to emerge. Yue was visibly eager, twitching her leg impatiently while Bai simply sat calmly.

"C'mon Ariya-neesan! I wanna' see! You've been in there-"

"For five minutes, now shut up! I'll be out in a second!" Ariya's irritated voice interrupted from behind the door.

Yue narrowed her eyes and glared at the bathroom door with a pout. "It seems more like five _hours_ if ya' ask me!" She grumbled. "I bet if Bai Hu-sama wanted to see you, you'd come out here naked just to let her look…"

Bai Hu sighed. 'I doubt I'd want to see that badly…'

Yue, reluctantly, sat and waited about two more minutes before the door to the bathroom opened. She looked the figure up slowly, eyes widening.

"Geez Yue, must you be so impatient all the time? You'll find that things come much easier when you take the time to wait." The voice that came was Ariya's but the woman that stood before them looked almost nothing like her.

The woman before them still rather looked like her. She had the same healthy skin tone and features but her eyes had changed from the predatorial green-grey, to a cool, piercing grey-blue. Her hair, while still the same length was a golden brown, almost blonde color and she was wearing bit of makeup, eyeliner and peach pink colored lipgloss.

"A-A-ARIYA-NESAMA?! Is that really you?!" Yue stammered.

Ariya smirked. "You like? I know I don't really look like myself, but that was my goal in the first place, hm?"

"You look awesome!" Yue squealed. "Let me do your hair!"

Before Ariya could even say anything Yue had grabbed her wrist and pulled her down to the bed for better reach. Bai Hu watched in amusement as the two of them bickered, but Yue eventually managed to get her way seeing as she did a style that Ariya actually liked. Now the woman was sitting there in her white lace underwear, sighing into the mirror as she watched Yue add the finishing touches.

"THERE! All done! You look so KAWAII!!" She cooed and hugged the older woman tightly.

"H-hey! Let me go brat!" Ariya struggled to remove herself from Yue's "Hug of Ultimate Doom".

Yue, unyielding, nuzzled the woman. "I've really outdone myself! You'll look so hot! None of the guys'll be able to keep their eyes off you!"

Ariya glared. As if she didn't have that problem already…

"Huh? Hey Ari-chan, what's this?" Yue reached down between the woman's breasts and pulled a green crystal free that was dangling on her neck.

Ariya sighed. "It's what's keeping up my disguise. So hands OFF!" She growled as she managed to pull free of Yue's death grip.

She stood and went over to the dresser where a she had clothes laid out over it.

Yue blinked. "I didn't know you had something like that…What other kind of sorcery can you do Nee-chan?" She inquired curiously.

"Ariya is actually very good at different types of sorcery." Bai Hu commented from the bed. She was watching, oddly enough, a cartoon of a pink bunny and his little animal friends while eating Pocky.

Ariya smiled thoughtfully as she pulled a shirt over her head. "Yeah, but there are others who are much more renowned in the art of sorcery."

Now Yue's curiosity had been sparked and she lay forward on her belly to look at her "older sister". At times like these, it was revealed just how much the young girl really respected and looked up to the young woman.

"Really? Like this Cain Warlock person? Is that why his last name is Warlock? He's a Warlock?" She wondered.

"I suppose you could say he is. He's much more powerful than me in that respect." Ariya chuckled.

"But I thought he was an Old Blood, not a Warlock." Yue said cocking an eyebrow.

"He's…well Cain is a lot of thing, kid." Ariya laughed.

Yue looked at her oddly, she could tell by the look on Ariya's face that she knew Cain personally. She had the look that said she was remembering something from her past. She would often tell her stories of her past to pass the time when they were bored. It always interested Yue. She would tell how she used to serve as an Old Blood's assistant. That's how she learned to use magic and fight. She seemed to respect him and referred to him as her master.

'Is it this Cain Warlock guy? Was he her master?' Yue thought.

"Well, how does this look?" Ariya's voice interrupted her thoughts.

Yue looked up and grinned as she appraised her outfit.

"You'll knock em' dead Nee-chan!"

******

Marine Bank 7:45 am:

The receptionist sat typing forlornly at her computer. She barely got any sleep last night, doing paperwork for Cain.

'I hope this secretary takes the job…I'm in desperate need of a vacation! I've been working myself to the bone for two weeks straight!' She thought with a tired sigh.

She pushed up her glasses and ran a hand through her hair, something she did often when stressed.

"I feel so weak…I think I'm going to die right here and now from overwork…" She groaned and slumped down tiredly.

"That would be most unfortunate. Good thing I'm here to take some the work away, ne?"

The voice nearly scared the receptionist out of her top. She jumped knocking her cup of coffee forward and tumbling toward the ground.

A slender hand quickly caught the handle of the mug with almost inhuman speed. Not spilling a single drop from the cup. And put it back on the desk, away from the papers that were piled an inch high in the middle.

"Gomen nasai, did I startle you?"

The receptionist looked up at the woman before her and for some reason couldn't help but stare, awe-struck, with a light blush.

'S-she's so pretty…' She thought absently.

The woman smiled at her. "Didn't mean to scare you, I thought you saw me come in. Obviously not."

"T-that's okay, um, thanks for saving my coffee…Are you here for an appointment with Mr. Warlock?" She stammered.

"No, I'm here for the secretary job. My name is Arisu, Kazumi Arisu." She introduced.

The receptionist blinked. 'Arisu? Like the Japanese form of the name Alice?' She thought then as what she said sunk in, she brightened.

"Oh, right! Kazumi-san, you're a bit early. I'll inform Mr. Warlock of your arrival!" She said happily.

"Arisu" raised an eyebrow at her enthusiasm. 'Does Cain work her that hard?' She mused as she watched the woman converse with him over the phone. She could hear every word.

"Alright, please follow me Kazumi-san!" She smiled and stood and began to lead her down a hall toward Cain's office.

Ariya looked around in amusement. 'Never thought he'd be the manager of a bank of all things… How interesting. I think he'd make a better military sergeant than bank manager.' She grinned to herself and repressed a chuckle.

The receptionist knocked twice on two large oak doors and a gruff "enter" was heard. She pushed the doors open, with some effort, and bowed.

"Kazumi-san is here, sir." She said simply before allowing the woman in question to enter and closing the door behind her.

Ariya walked forward and gave a bow. "Ohayo Gozaimasu, Warlock-sama."

Cain sat silently behind his desk as he observed the young woman before him. She was young. Very pretty. He allowed himself to look her over. She wore a dark skirt suit with a light blue shirt that hugged her curves just enough to look professional. Her shirt was unbuttoned enticingly but not too much and a green diamond shaped crystal dangled in the valley of her breasts from a thin silver chain. Her honey colored hair was pinned up in bun with rather intricately designed chopsticks. With his superior eyesight, he could see the tigers painted on them in gold.

He brought his gaze to her face and she boldly looked directly back him with cool, yet somehow familiar, grey-blue piercing eyes. They seemed to glow slightly beneath her long bangs and the loose tendrils of hair that framed her delicate face. Her gaze amused him. She seemed to carry herself with a confident air. Almost arrogantly so for a human such as herself.

Finally, after a long pause in which she never flinched away from his gaze, he spoke.

"I see you came early. It seems your résumé is living up to its name…so far."

A small curve played at her lips. "I always live up to my name Mr. Warlock. I don't disappoint often." She said smoothly.

"Hn," Cain smirked at her confidence. "I would hope so. I have no patience for weakness, you would do well to remember that Ms. Kazumi."

She bowed again, hiding her smirk whilst having her head down. 'He hasn't changed…'

"I will do as you command, sir." She declared.

Cain smirked approvingly. 'I like this woman already…'

******

Yue sighed as she looked boredly out the window. It was such a nice day and here she was stuck inside. It wasn't cloudy, but there were clouds. She watched the shadows they made over the pavement with a sigh. It had only been an hour since Ariya left and she was already bored senseless.

Bai Hu looked over at her from the television.

"Yue-chan."

"Yes Bai Hu-donno?"

"Let's take a walk outside."

Yue looked at her in disbelief. "R-really?"

She never expected her to say something so random.

"Yes." Bai Hu said as she turned off the TV.

"Okay!" She said happily. "But…"

"But what?"

"Where will we go? I don't know anywhere in the Special Zone." Yue said with a sigh.

"Call Ariya and ask her." Bai Hu said simply.

Blink. Blink. She hadn't thought of that. But Ariya said only to call her if it was an emergency…

'Well if Lady Bai wants to know, I think it's deemed an emergency.' She thought matter-of-factly.

She nodded and picked up the phone.

****

Ariya shuffled the papers on the end of Cain's desk. She had been going through the files in his file cabinet as he said they needed organizing. There was a lot of crap in there! She sighed. She had a feeling that he was giving her this much work on the first day purposely. Just to see how much she could handle. He had currently "stepped out" and she was alone in his office. She'd just bent over his desk to get a pen when her cellphone rang in her breast pocket.

"Eek!" She nearly fell across his desk as it vibrated against her left breast.

She quickly pulled it out after looking at the number and flipped it open.

"Yue now is not the best time!" She said in a growled whisper into the phone.

"Well you better make time! Bai Hu-sama wants to go for a walk!" Yue replied.

"What do you _mean_ she wants to go for a walk?! She's NOT a dog!" Ariya snapped.

"I never said she was! She said that we should take a walk!" Yue argued.

"Then go for damn walk! Why'd you call ME?!"

"We don't know the Special Zone and Bai Hu-sama told me to ball you and ask for a place."

Ariya twitched and repressed a growl. "Fine! There's a park and shopping district in the "old yard" try going for a walk there! Now don't do anything stupid or I'll come down there and kick your ass, got it?!"

Hai! See ya' later Nee-sama!" Yue said happily.

Ariya hung up with a sigh. "Stupid brat…Does she ever use her brain? She could've just looked it up on the computer."

"Taking a break already?"

Ariya froze and looked up to see Cain leaning against the door frame, looking at her in amusement. She realized she was practically lying on his desk and stood up quickly.

'Damn! I _hate_ it when he sneaks up on me! He's probably been watching me from the beginning!'

"Uh, no…I just, uh, getting a pen." She said and rose up a hand to show him only to discover that she had her phone in her hand and the pen was stuck between her breasts.

"Heh, heh!" She quickly switched them with an embarrassed smile.

Cain gave her a smirk that made her blood run cold.

"Get back to work then Ms. Kazumi." He said and walked over and sat back behind his desk.

She did so, barely repressing a glare, and felt his eyes burning into her back throughout the task.

'God damned slave driving son of a-'

"And hurry up." He added, cutting off her thought.

She twitched.

"Yes sir."

******

Kotaro Mochizuki was currently having the time of his life as he swung from swing to swing with inhuman agility. It was still pretty early in the morning, not to mention he didn't go to school. So there weren't any kids on the playground. He had it all to himself and was loving it. He'd ran ahead onto the park in front of his chaperone, Mimiko as both of them had left his brother behind to catch up to them later. The brown-haired girl was currently taking a phone call under a tree a few feet away from him. He laughed wrapped his legs around the chain of one of the swings and hung upside down from it.

He'd also grown a bit in the four years since the attack on the Special Zone. His hair was a bit longer and he'd grown out of his old clothes, now in a more modern fashion, khaki shorts, sneakers, and a baby blue t-shirt. However, he still carried around his stuffed bear, "Grand Duke Bow Wow", on his back like a bookbag.

"That's a pretty big bear ya' got there kid."

Kotaro blinked and looked beside him to see a girl, maybe a few years or so older than him, sitting on the swing next to him, looking at him curiously. She wore a white sailor school uniform with a blue collar and yellow tie. Her hair was in two buns with red bun caps and had two shopping bags sitting at her side.

"Does he have name?" She continued curiously.

Kotaro smiled, pleased someone had noticed his companion. "Yup, his name is Grand Duke Bow Wow! He's my best friend!"

The girl blinked.

"Grand…Duke..Bow Wow?"

"Yeah, Isn't he awesome?!"

Blink. "Uh sure, so what's _your_ name?" She asked.

"I'm Mochizuki Kotaro, pleased to meet you!" He said happily.

"My name is Shuang Yue and that over there is my friend…um,-"

"Bai." Came the soft voice from Kotaro's right.

He turned abruptly to see Bai Hu sitting on the neighboring swing in the same school uniform as Yue's. Her hair was braided into two ponytails with black ribbons on the ends. Kotaro stared for a long while as the girl gazed at him with uncanny golden eyes.

Bai Hu tilted her head in amusement. "You can call me Bai-chan however."

Kotaro smiled suddenly. "Alright, Bai-chan…I don't know why, but I feel like I know you from somewhere. Or like, we could be friends." He said.

"Is that so? I hope that we can be friends then Kotaro-kun." She mused thoughtfully with a small smile.

"Yup, you and your friend Yue."

He looked back over at Yue only to discover that she was standing atop the swing set looking over the park.

"Whoa! Cool Yue-san! You have such good balance!" He said peering up at her.

Yue grinned down at him with a flash of fangs.

"Well, you have the same balance Kotaro-sama."

"Kotaro-sama?...Wait-You're a…" He looked around with a whisper and said, "You guys are Black Bloods aren't you?"

"Yeah…we are. You are too right?" Yue inquired although she obviously knew the answer.

She looked out over toward Mimiko. "Uh-oh looks like your friend is coming for you Kotaro, gotta' go." She said and Kotaro looked over toward Mimiko.

"We will meet again Kotaro-kun. Farewell." He heard Bai Hu's good-bye whispered softly in the wind.

He turned back to only to see that they had disappeared, just as silently as they appeared.

"Huh?"

"C'mon Kotaro-chan, time to get going!" Mimiko called.

"HAI!"

Kotaro flipped down from the swing and with one last look at the swing, went to catch up with Mimiko.

In a nearby tree, Bai and Yue watched the pair depart.

"So that was the Lady Sage's reincarnation…" Yue mused. "Nice kid."

Bai nodded her agreement. "He has yet to regain his memories. I wonder how Jiro plans to handle that…"situation". It would be interesting to find out his solution to this when the time arises."

Yue pouted thoughtfully. "Hmmm, well. Ready ta' finish shopping?" She asked cheerily.

Bai Hu smiled softly at her childishness. "Yes, let us go."

******

Yay! Chapter 3! And it was actually a decent length too! OMFG! ^_^ Review and tell me whatcha' think!


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